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Re: Help figuring out this whole "Giga" thing!

Originally posted by JWB:How do I incorporate the GigaPiano (and related Giga instruments)into Sonar? Since GigaSampler won\'t work with WinXP, should I purchase GigaStudio?... if so, which level?

Also, why even use Sonar if GigaStudio has MIDI implementation? (probably a dumb question)

Thanks for the help,
Jon

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Hello Jon,

In order to incorporate Giga instruments into Sonar you need to have GigaStudio play those instruments, playing directed by the MIDI that Sonar would send it. You can do this with Sonar and GigaStudio running in the same computer (Potential problems if you don\'t have a fast enough computer, and are playing a complex performance), or have Sonar run in one computer, and send the MIDI output to another computer with GigaStudio running exclusively in it (What the pros mostly do).

GigaSampler (The ancient brother of GigaStudio) has been abandoned in the retirement home [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] , and is no longer being developed, so it won\'t run under Windows XP. Under Windows XP you need GigaStudio 2.50 at least (Currently the only release that works in Windows XP).
The versions work like this: Mostly you have the same features, EXCEPT in the ammount of voices that it will handle. Thus, GigaStudio 160 will handle a maximum of 160 voices (Computing power permitting). This 160 voices don\'t translate into 160 instruments either, don\'t be confused! Just doing a roll in GigaPiano you can get 100 voices or so (Doing a crazy roll). In normal conditions, with GigaStudio160 you will be able to incorporate around 25 instruments (Including instrument sections, such as violin sec., etc). So, you can perform very complex and thick pieces with it.
I suggest you perhaps start with a lower GigaStudio, and not GS160. You can upgrade later at very good prices (Periodically, they should have some special at Tascam).

The reason why you would want to use Sonar is that with Sonar you would record your performances for each instrument one at a time, each one in its own MIDI channel. Then, you will tweak them, and finally you can play all your orchestra at once (Think of Sonar as the director of the orchestra, sending the MIDI messages to GigaStudio, which is the orchestra itself).
If you didn\'t have Sonar, you would have to play each instrument at a time and record it, then perform the next instruments while you playback all the other instrument performances that you have already done. Then, imagine that when you record a 5 minute performance you hit a bad note. Now, repeat the whole performance. OUCH!!! With Sonar, or any other sequencer, you can edit part of the performance (Like changing a bad note), without having to go back and playing the whole thing again. So, you basically need a director in your orchestra (a sequencer)
To be more clear, if you don\'t use a sequencer, you work with audio data (as opposed with MIDI data, which is much easier to edit, and requires much less space to be stored)

Sorry if I am not being too clear, please let me know and I\'ll try to explain things better. The truth is that I was just as lost as you are now a few months back, so I know this whole GigaStudio thing is very confusing [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]